Day 183-189: Sydney (Week 22)
Trip Start
Sep 12, 2004
1
33
57
Trip End
Jan 05, 2006
Sydney,
Australia
Monday, March 21, 2005
Tried to do the whole getting up early thing but didn't really work, tho I was up about 10 which isn't too bad. Jogged to Park St gym to get there for 11, the plan was to do 30 mins of cardio, an hour of lower body weights, then do the 12.30 combat class. In the end I skipped the combat class, I just didn't have the energy, it all came really tough this morning - I've had a kind of cold over the last week or so, sore throat, cough....it's been a bit sporadic but maybe it's sapping my energy. Anyway, managed to do everything else but walked home just before half 12 and had some lunch. Another gorgeous blue sky day, perfect beach weather again so decided to go to Bondi for the afternoon, can't stand going there during the weekend coz it's so busy but during the week it's great.
Jumped on the bus just after 2 and was on the beach just before 3....and there was so much room! It was fantastic....basically spent a couple of hours doing bugger all on the beach, went into the sea a couple of times to cool off - it was bloody freezing, or it felt freezing but all the locals say that this is the warmest the sea gets, supposedly it feels cold coz the air temperature is higher...yeah right! Quite calm too coz there was an offshore wind so not many waves around. Finally left the beach just before 6, still very warm even at that time....wandered down the main street to pick up some stuff for dinner and catch the 389 home as it stops at the end of my road. Fancied having fish with salad and potato salad but couldn't find the potato thing anyway so had to go for a wander when I got home. Ended up in a deli not far from me....and not cheap either, had some potato salad and also spotted a very nice looking quiche - can't resist a bit of quiche! Ended up spending over $10 on 2 things....could have eaten out for that...lol.
Nikibitch wasn't in so decided to have a night in...watched Desperate Housewives, Biggest Loser, Shameless and The Apprentice....generally a night of tat other than Shameless which I'm enjoying. In bed at half 11.
Tuesday 15/03/05:
Another failed attempt at getting up early...well 10 this morning which isn't too bad. Didn't have a very good nights sleep due to a load of bites on both my feet which are sooo itchy, I'm not sure if they're mozzie bites but there are loads and some are really big. I'm wondering if there are any sand bugs which bite coz it seems a bit of a coincidence that they've appeared when I've been to the beach twice in 3 days. I mean can I do anything without being eaten alive...can't relax on the beach or sit watching telly in the evening - it's not fair! :O( And that mozzie spray stuff is awful, sprayed it on last night and almost suffocated.
So anyway, had brekkie and went to the chemist to get some antihistamines to help with the bites. Also decided that I'd go to the Museum of Sydney to see the Opera House exhibition, went to the net cafe first and whilst there I remembered that it was Super Hot $5 Tuesday at the cinemas - which as you can probably guess means it's $5 to see a film, which is a bargain considering it's usually around $15. So dropped the museum idea and went to see Bride and Prejudice lunchtime which was pretty good, slightly bizarre when they'd break into song for no good reason worth a fiver. Went to the Galeries Victoria foodcourt for lunch which wasn't very healthy unfortunately....chicken curry...oops! Went and sat in Hyde Park for a little while whilst I called the guy who's bought the bed. He's gonna come and collect before 10am on Sat so that's good, will keep miserable cow Nikibitch happy and the sooner I get out the better - sounds like he's a kosher bloke so let's hope he turns up!
Whilst in Hyde Park I thought I'd finally go into the Anzac Memorial. I've been passed it hundreds of times but never actually been in, it's another one of my list of things to do before leaving Sydney. It's a beautiful art deco building and the detail inside is amazing, took a few piccies even tho they say you have to get permission - bugger that! It's not huge so doesn't take long to see everything but worth going inside rather than walking past it everyday. After that I went to see Meet the Fockers at 3.45 for another $5 - such a bargain!
Enjoyed that, left the cinema and nipped into the net cafe on the way home (it's too damn convenient!!!) and took a big step by booking my flight to Melbourne for Thurs 31st March....so that's the big day! I'm going to go to the Blue Mountains on the train for a couple of nights before that too so I'll be leaving Sydney city on 28th - then we'll see how long I fancy being in Melbourne for. I've decided to go there next so that I catch the good weather, after speaking to a few people I've heard that come June/July it'll be winter and it'll be dull and rainy so that's when I'll go up the east coast where it should be a bit warmer. Wandered home and had some dinner abuot 7. Nikibitch was in and taking up the entire sofa with her giant ass so sat and read my aussie rough guide in my room. By 9 I thought I couldn't be bothered to stay in so got changed and went for a drink at Stonewall as it was karaoke night.
Bumped into King & Heiko who were with a couple of friends. King invited me on a weekend away over easter, him and Heiko are thinking of renting a cabin near some beach in Northern NSW and getting a few people together for the weekend. Said I'm interested depending on how much it ends up costing, so that could mean that I'll leave Sydney Good Friday to go away for that weekend, come back and go straight to the Blue Mountains, and straight to Melbourne - we'll see whether the cabin thing happens or not. Sang a little song whilst I was there - Will Young's Light My Fire - I was great, I survived the bell round so couldn't have been too bad (it's the round where they ring the bell at any point during the song and turn the music off!). Got home about 1 and straight to bed, had to take some pain killers coz my feet were really playing up.
Wednesday 16/03/05:
Had a fantastic nights sleep thanks to the drugs! Alarm went off at 9 and got up not long after that. Decided to visit a couple of places on my 'list of places to see before buggering off'. Got to the Museum of Sydney about 10am - I've already been there before but they've got a couple of new exhibitions - My City of Sydney which is a pictorial and film story of the city and the people that live in it, there's also The Studio of Jorn Utzon: Creating the Sydney Opera House which is all about the architect who designed the opera house, with models and pics of the original designs and the story of how it was built and what changed. Spent a good 3 hours there and really enjoyed, managed to take some surreptitious pics when the museum staff weren't looking (how dare they ban photography!).
Had some lunch at the AMP Plaza just over the road from the MOS, got very excited when I saw a KitKat Caramel Chunky in the supermarket - hadn't seen one before and quite possibly the best combination of my favourite choccie bar....so I bought one and even took a pic of it before eating, yes my name is Paul and I have a chocolate issue, should you also have a chocolate issue fascinating information here's some fascinating info about Kit Kats. Anyways, after lunch I wandered to the Justice and Police Museum as they have a photo exhibition there too, only to discover that it's only open on Sat and Sun. So ended up going to the Art Gallery of NSW as it's another place on my list....it was a 15 min walk through the Royal Botanical Gardens and The Domain to get there. The main reason for going was a Bill Henson photography exhibition which has been running since the new year. The Art Gallery is free but the exhibition was $10 which was worth it as some of the photos were gorgeous, again managed to get some secret pics tho did get the feeling I was being followed around by a security bloke - anyway, they've come out really well, very atmospheric.
Aaron had called during the day so after spending a couple of hours in the gallery I wandered home via the restaurant. Caught up with him, unforunately the room he offered in his apartment isn't going to be available from Sunday as he's got an employee moving in from Melbourne on the Sunday, so looks like I'll have to stay in the hostel, which won't be too bad really, just take a bit of getting used to after having my own room for so long - but it'll also be in a place where I can meet more people (assuming I don't just crawl into my shell again!)....I'll probably go back to the BIG Hostel where I stayed when I first arrived. Also got a box from him so I can store my stuff at the restaurant whilst I'm travelling. Quick change when I got home ready to jog to the gym for the 5.30 Combat class. Another quick change after getting home ready to go to the Lord Roberts for the quiz night with Chris, Nick and Leon. Whilst I was showering the new tenant came to measure up - Adrian - so got to meet him the poor bugger, little does he know what he's letting himself in for! Managed to get him to buy my fan off me for $10 so that's something else I won't need to pack away.
Got to the pub at 7.30 and had some food - steak and mash for $7 (£2.80!!)...bargain! Was quite nice too - the quiz was good fun as usual, we managed to come second which was pretty good, we had a couple of guys join our team tonight coz they were on their own. They were very helpful and pretty good, however it was coz of them that we didn't come first coz one of them lost us a point dammit and we were drawing with first place and had to have a sudden death round - imagine the tension!!!! Well there wasn't any really but it would have been nice to come first, though we still got 3 bottles of 'champagne' for second place plus we won a 4 pack of malibu chill in one of the bonus rounds...so not a bad night in the end. Wandered to the Stonewall for Malebox but was too hot and bored so within half an hour had left and was in bed by half 11.
Thursday 17/03/05:
Another decent nights sleep as the feet are much better and the cold seems to be disappearing, tho I did have a sore throat this morning again, probably coz I kept the windows shut so I wasn't woken by the bloody bin men this morning. Got up at 9.30 and had brekkie. Wandered down to Cook and Phillip Park for a swim....done 40 lengths this morning - that's 2000m!!! Very proud of myself for doing that, usually only do 1700m. After that wandered into the city to get a spot of lunch. Whilst walking from the city to the net cafe I bumped into Al's mate Nick (as in Nick and Rob). Turns out he didn't know that Al and me weren't talking, explained to him what happened, he seemed to think that I should try and get in touch with Al but I said that when someone repeatedly tells you that they 'don't give a shit' about you anymore it doesn't really want to make you call them. Nick said that I was still invited round this saturday - this was set up when me and Al went round theirs in Feb for him to get his haircut. I thanked him but said it might be a bit awkward....anyway we swapped numbers and I guess in a way I'm kinda hoping they get in touch, or get Al to get in touch - I dunno, I suppose I just don't wanna leave Sydney without saying goodbye....am I being stupid, should I move on?? No idea.....
Spent a couple of hours in the net cafe in the afternoon and checked out some of the pics I'd taken over the last few days. Got a text from Heiko whilst I was there about the Easter weekend away....$46 a night apparently and the resort is called Myall Shores. Looks very nice from the website so would be worth having a weekend away - Chris should be going too so could turn out to be a fun weekend. Nipped to the supermarket on the way home and chucked some dinner on, had a shower and went to the choir rehearsal. Thought it was gonna be my penultimate one but turns out they're not having a rehearsal next week coz of the long weekend so this one was the last one for me. Was gonna say a little thankyou during breaktime announcements but David, the SGLC secretary, had already heard that it would be my last one so suggested I say something at the end. Chris was at uni tonight but said he wanted to be at my last rehearsal so I sent him a text to let him know and he came down at half 9.
So anyway I got up at the end and said a few words of thanks...ironically there are still loads of people in the choir that I've never even spoken to let alone know everyone's name - there's just never enough time to get round to everyone during the 10 min break we get. After my little speech they sang a song to me which they sing to everyone leaving the choir called Hand In Hand - they did it for a guy who left a few weeks ago so I knew what was coming but it was lovely to hear it being sung for me. A little bit sad to be leaving them and I've made some v good friends through it, but I'll definately pop back for a visit when I return to Sydney so it's not a permanent goodbye. A few of us went to the Oxford for a drink afterwards, most people lasted 30 mins or so and in the end it was just me and King chatting away till 1am. The easter weekend is all sorted, we're gonna drive up Good Friday and come back on Easter Monday so my last proper day in Sydney will be next Thurs!
Friday 18/03/05:
Think my cold is coming back again, had a sore throat for a couple of nights in a row now and coughing a bit...how annoying. Anyway, up about half 9 then had brekkie, didn't bother to shower as I jumped on the bus and went straight to the gym so gonna sweat anyway. 35 mins of cardio then the upper body workout and was done just after 12. Caught the bus home and after lunch started sorting through my stuff and working out what was coming with me and what was staying, started filling up the box and decided to keep the old backpack for now and stick all the clothes that I'm not taking in it and then stick that in the box. More or less had it all worked out so just gotta fill the new backpack up tomorrow. Wandered to the post office to post some photo CDs back home before they shut, done some washing so everything's clean for the box/pack too. Called the BIG Hostel too and they had just one space left in the 4bed ensuite dorms - or so they say - so booked that ready for tomorrow, only gonna be there for 5-6 nights anyway.
Been a bit of a shitty day today with showers on and off....last night I managed to leave my brolly at the choir rehearsal so popped by Heffron Hall a couple of times today to see if it was open to pick it up but wasn't, will probably have to buy another coz it's supposed to be showers for the next few days. Went out around 6 to use up the disposable camera I bought for the Mardi Gras party, still had 17 pics left on it so wandered around taking pics of the places I've been near where I live so I've got a record of places and the area. Dropped the camera off at a photo place on the way to the net cafe, just gonna get the pics put straight on to CD coz I don't need to be carrying prints around. Updated the diary and done the usual at the net cafe.
Walked back up Oxford St on the way home, stopped off at the Sushi Train for some food, and then went to Battuta for a cup of tea and a slice of cake...mmmm, chocolate cheesecake! Bumped into Stephen there with a friend, they were going off to the Oxford. Went home after tea and cake which was about 10pm feeling rather fat, sat in front of the telly for a little while watching the end of Legally Blonde. Then I walked down to the Oxford to meet Stephen for a drink - god that guy knows so many people, it's difficult to get to know him coz he's always flitting around from person to person....would be nice to actually spend some time one on one before I got but can't see it happening. Had an early night coz of the move tomorrow...in bed by midnight.
Saturday 19/03/05:
Alarm went off at 8.30...took ages to get to sleep with this crappy cold I've got, tickly throat, cought, all that rubbish, took some drugs about 2am and finally got to sleep. Didn't really wanna get up but crawled out after hitting snooze a couple of times. Chucked the sheets int he wash ready to store away and had some brekkie. Started packing up the backpack, god I've got soo much shit...too much really, I culled a few tops from the collection but I guess I could have stored more. I'm carrying more stuff than when I arrived, hence why I bought the bigger pack - I want to have a beach towel, I want one set of gym stuff so I can go running, etc.....managed to squeeze it all in somehow. Luke, the guy who bought the bed, came nice and early - 9.30! But that was good as it got that out of the way, broke it up a little bit and he took it away on his trailer - $150 cash for it, he got a total bargain considering the mattress alone was $300. But of course it meant I didn't have to get rid of it myself so it was worth losing a bit of money.
Managed to completely fill the box Aaron gave to me, and trust me it wasn't small! Also gonna leave the tripod with him too coz I just can't be arsed carrying it around, I'll probably regret not having it when I wanna take some night shots but that'll be so few and far between that it's not worth carting it around. Had the room emptied out by 11...just needed to have a shower and that was it. Had a litle bit of lunch left over from yesterday and had booked a cab for 12.30. Adrian arrived just before then and started moving himself in, had about 4 friends to help him! Taxi arrived about 12.45 - chucked the box, tripod, two bags of food and backpack in and that was it, done and dusted. Said a polite goodbye to Niki(notbitchtoday) and drove off....went via the Hyde Park hotel to drop the stuff off with Aaron and then straight down to the BIG hostel.
Guy on the reception desk was working there when I was last there and he recognised me too....asked me if I'd had a good Mardi Gras...I mean do I look gay???? (Don't answer that!) They'd even saved some mail for me...a load of pay slips from work. I ended up in the same room as I started in - M04 - though this time it looks as if the guys already in there have been there some time, all their shit was on their beds coz the floor was to be hoovered, and there wasn't much room really - ah hostel life! None of them were there so didn't get to meet them straight away. Unpacked a few things, made my bed and then wandered to the crap net cafe next door to upload some pics to the album. Then took a walk up to Starbucks on Oxford and killed a couple of hours reading the paper and my Rough Guide to Oz.
While wandering back to the hostel at about 6 Chris called to see what I was up to this evening, we decided to go for something to eat and see what happens from there. When I got back to the room all the guys were there - Matt, Luke and Tom - all pommie boys, think they're on a gap year before starting uni....how old did I feel! Seem nice enough guys if a little untidy but what do you expect from students. They're working during the week and have to be up at 6.30 in the morning! So that should be fun with 3 of them all getting up at the same time. They've already been in Sydney for a couple of weeks and are here for a couple more....they've certainly made themselves at home in the room. I had a little rest on the bed trying to have a mini-nap after they went out, but only had 15 mins and never really fell asleep. Showered, etc, and met Chris outside Wagamama's on Crown at half 7...tho in the end we went to the Thai Box instead which was very nice.
Chris fancied seeing a movie so we walked down Oxford St to Paddington to check what was on at the Academy and the Verona - there was nothing much I fancied but Chris wanted to see The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou so I went along with it. Was all a bit bizzare really - guess you could call it quirky, probably something I would have rather seen on DVD than pay to see at the movies. Afterwards we went to the Oxford for one, it was a bit quiet so we walked down the road to Palms...I'd never been before so thought I'd give it a go on my last Sat night in Sydney for a while. Waiting in the queue I started to feel increasinly rough and tired, this cold doesn't seem to want to go away...anyway I struggled on like a trooper! Well once we were in it was just like being at The Loft, it was a tiny place in a basement and it seemed to have all the odds and sods that don't go to the other bars, very strange mixture of people, all seemed very provincial so it kinda reminded me of home. Saying that I did like most of the music they played so we had a little boogie with the waifs and strays....however after half an hour we felt that we'd done our bit to raise the attractiveness level so left to go to the Shift.
Guess we stayed there until about 3am and by now the smoke and heat had taken it's toll and I thought my chest might explode so we left, Chris heading home and me back to BIG. When I got in a couple of the guys were already in bed, and the other came in a couple of mins after me. Done the usual, chucked the ear plugs in and went to sleep.
Sunday 20/03/05:
First woke up about 9am, thought about going down for the free breakfast - cereals, toast, spreads, etc - but fell rough as so didn't bother. Ended up staying in bed until 2....chest ached after the smoke and coughing, throat wasn't great either coz of having to shout in bars...of course I shouldn't really have gone out last night but how could I not when it was the last sat in town! The other guys came and went during the morning, tho Tom - who got in the same time as me - was also comatose in bed most of the day, infact he was still sleeping when I finally got up about 2. Wandered downstairs to have breakfast/brunch/lunch, couple of bits of toast and an orange (thought I should get some fresh vit C). Needed some drugs so after showering I took a walk to Market City to find a chemist, got some cold and flu tablets and cough medicine.
After that I went to Paddy's Market which is under Market City to have a wander round, try to find an umbrella to replace the one I left at Heffron Hall during the week and get some fruit and veg for my hostel stay. Ended up spending an hour or so wandering around aimlessly, no brolly but did get a couple of bargain sunglass cases and the fruit and veg. Got a paper on the way back to the hostel and sat and read that downstairs with a cup of tea. It was getting on for 6 and was feeling hungry so made some dinner - had some veal steaks which I'd had in the freezer at the flat which I needed to eat now they were defrosted so had those with pasta....very nice indeed. After dinner went back to the room where a couple of guys were watching X Factor so just watched that with them. Didn't do much else for the rest of the night, went downstairs for a bit, Pearl Harbour was on the Tv but not interested in that so read a magazine I found instead. Still find it difficult to talk to people in this huge place....people tend to keep themselves to themselves, or are they just shy like me?? Who knows...went to bed about 11.
